Friday, December 7, 2007

the morning after... the JLPT

last december 2, the part of me that wanted to get things over with as soon as possible won over the other part of me that was kicking and screaming "don't take the exam because you're not prepared!!! (darned OT!)".

resigned to my fate of sure failure, i woke up at around 4:30am to do my morning rituals. at nearly 6am, my housemates and i headed for University of San Carlos (USC) - main campus, where we would be taking the exam.

there were three of us. one was going to take JLPT Level 4, while the other one just decided to go with us since she also would hear mass at the USC chapel.

we attended the 6am mass at the chapel, as planned, then ate breakfast at Jollibee. while we were eating there, the butterflies in my stomach doubled when i saw the other examinees who were also there, scanning their notes in between spoonfuls of food or sips of beverage.

i tried to console myself that even if i would fail the exam, at least i won't be reimbursing the company with the exam registration fee since i did take the exam anyway. somehow, it still didn't make me feel right about taking the exam. it was a good thing, though, that the housemates that i was with were the kind of people who could still find something funny even in the worst situations. they made me feel that it was not the end of the world. hehehe. :)

when we finished breakfast, the housemate who would not be taking the JLPT decided to go home. with only the two of us left, my JLPT-examinee-housemate and i went to USC to locate our designated rooms.

everything went downhill from that point on. i went to my designated room while my housemate went to hers. there were still a few minutes before we were allowed to actually enter the room so i scanned my notes. it was very futile really since the din made by everyone made it impossible for me to even understand what i was reading.

the vocabulary part was the first part of the exam. i think there was only one Kanji character i recognized. hehehehehe. no need to say that most of my answers for this part were purely guesswork.

the listening part came in second. unlike my JLPT 4 experience last year when we could hear traffic from the outside as we listened to the CD, the room where we took the JLPT 3 exam this year was very quiet. which was great if i understood the conversation. unfortunately, i did not. hehe. this time, all of my answers were guesswork.

the grammar and reading comprehension part came last. since i was only familiar with the Level 4 use of the particles and since my vocabulary was poor, i resorted to making up the meanings of the sentences and proceeded to answer the questions of this part in the same way i did in the previous two parts.

a day after the JLPT, lines of this song by Gary V. was running in my head again and again:
in another lifetime...
in another set of chances
i'll take the ones i'd missed
and make them mine...

it took a lot of restraint for me not to launch into a full-length regret-filled monologue everytime i was asked "kumusta ang exam?" or "shiken wa dou datta?" (translation: how was the exam?).

now it's five days after the exam and the same lines of the song still repeats in my head in an endless loop. grrrrrrr...


someday, i'll pass JLPT Level 3. if not this year or the next, maybe in another lifetime. :P

Thursday, December 6, 2007

welcome to my new blog! :D

yeah, i know, i know. this is my third blog (not counting those whose usernames or passwords i've forgotten. heheh. *guilty grin*) . but hey, i don't think they were more than five. or so i think. :D

anyway, i thought that my other blog was a bit limited in terms of features, that's why i'm switching to blogspot.

notice the name of my blog? OT princess. for about two years now, i've been in denial about how i'm spending most of my life coding or documenting away in the office. but about a second ago, while i was thinking about what would be an appropriate name of my blog. something that would describe me. hmmm, bookworm? nah, i'm reading less books lately compared to when i was in college or high school. couch potato? i don't watch much TV now. and why is that? it's because i don't just spend eight hours in the office. more often than not, i spend more than eight hours in the office because of overtime (OT). so i thought what a more appropriate name could there be than OT princess? hehe. please excuse the reference to royalty. i don't have any illusion that i'm of royal blood. OT princess just sounds nice. hehehe. :D

just a side note: one of my housemates can stake a claim to being the OT queen, as she renders more OT than me. hehehhehe. :)

so, to anyone who happens to stumble on this side of the net, welcome to the rants, daydreams, comments, opinions and reactions of the self-proclaimed OT princess. :)

i welcome comments, if you have any, even those expressing disagreement to my views and opinions. a disclaimer: comments using language that is rated PG-13 and above may or may not be edited. :)